From: Woody Long (ironanchorpress@earthlink.net)
Date: Tue May 16 2006 - 16:32:44 MDT
> I find it pretty easy to imagine a Jupiter brain with the requisite
> MNT powers to manufacture a human body/mind which is
> indistinguishable from a human born of human parents. Artificial is
> not mutually exclusive with biological, and furthermore I don't see
> why the criteria for how we treat each other should be based on
> substrate.
>James
My R/D in machine consciousness/machine life has led me to conclude that
what we consider to be the essence of natural human life is going to be
rolled back. In Kurzweil's new book, the essence and mystery is pinned on
consciousness. However consciousness as indeed a brain activity, or
"function" as described my William James, is now understood, and the mind
(brain product) / body problem is solved. And in consciousness is found the
necessary condition of the self, or focalizing, subjective agent of
consciousness, and so the essence and mystery roll back to the self, and
the hard problem of consciousness unravels in the subjective, self center.
Now here comes the rub. We can build an artificial self as well,
duplicating the principles of operation in a 'silk flower.' Now we have an
artificial self, with artificial consciousness, artificial creativity, and
artificial life prime purpose - we have a specimen of human Alife. This is
IAW the W. James human life theory, not mine. And he of course is the
father of modern psychology.
And so the essence and mystery of natural human life is rolled back once
more to its final resting place, the substrate of the natural human self.
It is the substrate that is hurt or in pain. Only the natural substrate can
IN FACT (forget "appearances") have these two properties. We are apples,
the silk flower is an orange.
This is how I explain these matters to religious/spiritual communities. And
trying to build human Alife has only increased my appreciation of natural
human life. Study any 3 year old, and watch their perfectly synched, smooth
symphony of sensors, consciousness, self, and actuators. I am always left
with the conclusion that it is oddly elegant to the extreme.
I think I'd better give this a name, as it is the foundation of my R/D. I
will call it the Long Silk Flower Analogy.
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